A squad boosted by 6 transfer window signings, good use of substitutions, and clinical finishing. Sadly that was Real Zaragoza, not CD Tenerife as one of only 2 teams below Tenerife snatched a 3-1 win in Santa Cruz. This was awful, especially after last weeks hard fought home 0-0 draw with Valencia, leading 1-0, coach Oltra went against all his past attacking swaps and took Kome off to bring on holding midfielder Roman. A disputed penalty later the visitors were level and Tenerife surrendered.

I feared a bad day, storms were swirling around the island and once at our pre match bar, I realised I had forgotten my season ticket, thankfully The General had a spare to sell. As we entered the ground, the rain began to pour down, but we were happy to get wet, as Tenerife started well, and were all over a disjointed Zaragoza side. Juanlu continued his great form, setting up Alfaro after 11 miutes, but his header went wide. Sicilia could have gone one better, his header was blocked on the line by Contini. Former Liverpool player Jermaine Pennant was getting nowhere down the wing as Bertran stood firm, and new Czech signing Jiri Jarosik showed little of his glory days with Chelsea, Birmingham and Celtic.

The first half went much the way of the previous few, Tenerife well on top but unable to finish, Nino and Alfaro got into some good positions but just didn’t have the killer touch. The home fans did their best to lift the players, the heavy rain was now joined by bright warmÂ sunshine, giving a surreal feel to the terraces. Half time chatter was about regretting our missed chances but there was a nice surprise after the resart. Sicilia crossed the ball in from the leftÂ and Juanlu popped it in the net from close range for a 1-0 lead. Then came that crazy change from coach Oltra, of all the players to bring on, Roman had to be the most puzzling and unpopular, his first action saw him get booked and he was back to sloppy passing and losing possesion.

A few minutes before Romans arrival, Zaragoza introduced new forward Colungu and Gabi, and they added more punch to the visitors. Arizmendi joined the attack a few minutes later and on one of his first runs he went down in the area after a Luna tackle, Chilean Suazo, another new player, stepped up and equalised. Suddenly Zaragoza had control and looked hungry whilst the Tenerife players heads dropped. Suazo set up Colungu and the lively forward put the ball over Sergio in goal to give the visitors the lead. The game was over, it was just a matter of how heavy a defeat, 4 minutes later Suazo turned provider again, passing to Lafita who unleashed a 30 yard screamer into the top corner of the net.

The rain was easing by then but the depression was just setting in, all our worst nightmares had come true. Fans streamed off the terraces to the exits, and at the final whistle the Tenerife players slunk off with barely a wave to the crowd. All eyes are now on the transfer window, midnight monday is the deadline – we need a helping hand.